Hennessy Advisors Inc. Purchases 8,900 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 140,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 8,900 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned about 0.29% of Griffon worth $9,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GFF. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Griffon by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,474 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,627,000 after purchasing an additional 4,129 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Griffon during the 2nd quarter worth $70,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Griffon by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 87,675 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $5,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Griffon by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $88,066,000 after acquiring an additional 19,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Griffon by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $40,350,000 after acquiring an additional 55,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GFF. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Griffon currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Insider Activity

In other Griffon news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $279,697.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,708 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 365,170 shares of company stock worth $27,178,746 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company's stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

Griffon stock traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $76.69. The stock had a trading volume of 321,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 371,268. Griffon Co. has a 12 month low of $55.01 and a 12 month high of $86.73. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $76.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The business had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $641.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This is a boost from Griffon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides consumer and professional, and home and building products in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Home and Building Products, and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment manufactures and markets residential and commercial sectional garage doors, rolling steel service doors, fire doors, shutters, steel security grilles, and room dividers for the use in commercial construction and repair, and home remodeling applications.